Clay animation is one of many forms of stop motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually Play Dough or plasticine.
MATERIALS NEEDED
Storyboard graphic organizer
Non-drying clay so that it can be manipulated for action shots - varied colors
Utensils for clay work (plastic knives, forks, toothpicks, pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks)
Suggested: boxes to set up the scenes and to store the material when not in use
Cameras and tripods
Computers with timed frame action (iPhoto, iMovie, VideoBlender, iStopMotion, etc.)
We will use four phases to implement slowmation. These are:
Phase 1. Planning: students learn about a concept
Student Activity:
- Choose a topic from the following and brainstorm to provide examples of storytelling techniques. - Plan who (class, group, individual), what (assess something students know or personal research) and how (resources considered such as diagrams, making models, cut outs, number of cameras, tripods, computers). Ideas: Science:
- Animal adaptations (camouflage, mimicry)
- Life cycles (seeds to flower, metamorphosis)
- Moon phases
- Seasons
- Cell division
- Making a scientific discovery Social Studies
- Animate an historical event
- Timeline of events
- Famous speech (record speech for movie) Language Arts
- Design a scene and record a poem,
- Personification
- Figurative language (hyperbole, onamatopoeia) Maths
- Show examples of math operations (addition, multiplication, subtraction and division)
- Show concepts such as fractions, shapes, measurement, elapsed time.
Phase 2. Storyboarding: students break down the concept into its component parts with storyboarding.
- Break the whole concept down into 4-6 major scenes or episodes using the Chunking.pdf file.
- Create a more detailed sketching of each movement using the Sequencing.pdf file.
Student Activity:
- Plan the 20-40 movements for the concept.
- Roles are allocated: story boarder/explanation/script writer, model maker, and photographer.
- Decisions made about use of signs, music, arrows and narration
- Write the narration to accompany the chunking or sequencing sheet.
Phase 3. Construction: students make or use existing models and take photos of them.
Claymation
Clay animation is one of many forms of stop motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually Play Dough or plasticine.
MATERIALS NEEDED
We will use four phases to implement slowmation. These are:
Phase 1. Planning: students learn about a concept
Student Activity:
- Choose a topic from the following and brainstorm to provide examples of storytelling techniques.- Plan who (class, group, individual), what (assess something students know or personal research) and how (resources considered such as diagrams, making models, cut outs, number of cameras, tripods, computers).
Ideas:
Science:
- Animal adaptations (camouflage, mimicry)
- Life cycles (seeds to flower, metamorphosis)
- Moon phases
- Seasons
- Cell division
- Making a scientific discovery
Social Studies
- Animate an historical event
- Timeline of events
- Famous speech (record speech for movie)
Language Arts
- Design a scene and record a poem,
- Personification
- Figurative language (hyperbole, onamatopoeia)
Maths
- Show examples of math operations (addition, multiplication, subtraction and division)
- Show concepts such as fractions, shapes, measurement, elapsed time.
Phase 2. Storyboarding: students break down the concept into its component parts with storyboarding.
- Break the whole concept down into 4-6 major scenes or episodes using the Chunking.pdf file.
- Create a more detailed sketching of each movement using the Sequencing.pdf file.
Student Activity:
- Plan the 20-40 movements for the concept.
- Roles are allocated: story boarder/explanation/script writer, model maker, and photographer.
- Decisions made about use of signs, music, arrows and narration
- Write the narration to accompany the chunking or sequencing sheet.
Phase 3. Construction: students make or use existing models and take photos of them.
Windows_Movie_Maker_Instructions.pdfPhase 4. Reconstruction: (uploading, editing and narrating)
Click to go to Samples
Click to go to IdeasClick to go to class groups